This is the moment a terrified jewellery shop-owner confronted an armed robber as he tried to protect his wife.

Have-a-go-hero James Connaughton picked up a steel tool, used to shaperings, to defend himself as the claw-hammer wielding hoodie lunged athim and his wife during the daylight raid on his store.

As his wife yelled 'they're going to kill you,' grandfather Jamesbravely stood his ground to fend the thug off, as the thief'saccomplice stood watch outside.

But the enraged, balaclava-clad thief then destroyed the shop,smashing his way into glass display cases and shovelling handfuls ofexpensive jewels into his pockets, before finally fleeing the scenewith more than £15,000 worth of loot.

The hooded robber, wielding a claw hammer, enters the shop and lunges towards owner James Haughton

The grandfather fends off the thug with a tool used to shape rings

The thief makes his getaway with £15,000 of jewellery

As his wife yelled 'they're going to kill you,' grandfather Jamesbravely stood his ground to fend the thug off, as the thief'saccomplice stood watch outside.

But the enraged, balaclava-clad thief then destroyed the shop,smashing his way into glass display cases and shovelling handfuls ofexpensive jewels into his pockets, before finally fleeing the scenewith more than £15,000 worth of loot.

Grandfather James, said: "It was terrifying. All I could think about was keeping him away from my wife."

The dad-of-one, 54, first thought someone was playing a prankwhen the two thugs walked into his store, Jagar Jewellers, in CedarSquare, Blackpool, at 3pm on Tuesday 25th March, claiming to have agun.

But when one of the thugs produced a claw-hammer from a bag and advanced, swinging it over his head, James knew it was serious.

With his terrified wife watching from the office just behind thecounter, James frantically searched for something to defend himselfwith, finally picking up a triblet, a metal bar used to straighten outrings.

As these images show, the thug then ran at James, swiping athim several times with the foot-long claw-hammer as brave James triedto fend off the potentially deadly blows.

The crazed hammer-wielding thief then turned his attention tothe shop's display cases, smashing them open to grab the contentsbefore fleeing with around £15,000 worth of jewellery.

The shop remains closed and owners James and his wife Rhona arenow trying to assess the damage to the business they have owned for thepast 30 years.

James said: "When he first came in he said he had a gun and my first though was that perhaps it was a prank.

"I soon realized it wasn't when he drew a hammer out of a bag. He came to hit me with it and I went to defend myself.

"I had in my hand a triblet which is a steel bar used to re-shape rings. I might have got hit if I did not have that in my hand.

"My wife Rhona was in the back office. We didn't know what hewas going to do. My wife was screaming that he was going to kill me.

"It seemed like he was trying to kill me because he went for my head straight away.

"My first reaction was to defend my wife but also to defend the property and stop them taking the goods."I have had this business for 30 years and have not had any other armed robberies in that time.

"We have not re-opened the shop yet. At the moment we areassessing the damage and missing stock."They got away with £15,000 worth of goods, a lot of which were secondhand items, quite a lot of gold chain and a few diamond rings.

"We will be re-opening the shop but we are concerned about howwe are going to feel when we do. They were only in the shop for aboutfour minutes but it seemed a lot longer."

Detective Constable Simon Pritchard, of Blackpool Police's Robbery Squad, said: "These are dangerous men who need to be caught.

"The CCTV from the store shows the violence with which the offender attacked the shopkeeper.

"He has been very brave and tried to protect his wife whoattempted to come out of a back office while the incident was ongoing.If the hammer had hit him he would have been killed.

"The proprietors are still very shaken and are currently tryingto come up with a list of what has been taken. We are appealing foranyone who was in the area at the time and may have seen something tocome forward."

The robber armed with the hammer is described as a white man, around 5ft 6in tall, slim with possibly dark or black hair.

He wore a grey, long-sleeved hooded top with the hood pulledaround his face. Over this was a black sleeveless bodywarmer-stylegarment.